Which to use
“tha” is a verb and “thou” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #43,181
- “tha” frequency rank
- #44,777
- “thou” frequency rank
- 87958
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tha | thou |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Libérer. | Écluse en pierre ou en béton permettant de vider lentement les étangs de la Dombes dans l'Ain. |
Where the eye mixes tha and thou
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. tha runs 3 letters (CCV) against thou's 4 (CCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses tha with thou
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: tha is \tʰa˦\ while thou is \tu\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 87958, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
tha is recorded at frequency rank #43,181, classified as averb, pronounced \tʰa˦\. thou is at rank #44,777, tagged as anoun, pronounced \tu\.
Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.
With a confusion score of 87958, this pair ranks #7,604 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of tha vs thou
Shared letters: ht. Private to "tha": a. Private to "thou": ou.
"tha" · 3 letters · shape CCV · "thou" · 4 letters · shape CCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- thou ← htou · thhou · thuo · tohu · tthou
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "tha" and "thou" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "tha" or "thou"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "tha" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "thou" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #7,604 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tha" and "thou" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tha vs tif". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #7,604 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.